


Occupied

by evilwriter37



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25203991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwriter37/pseuds/evilwriter37
Summary: After Rayla becomes injured, she is ordered on a month of bed rest, and Callum takes it upon himself to keep her busy.
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 74





	Occupied

“Does it need to be in a cast?” Rayla asked the Katolis healer. She’d been out in the forest with Callum, and she’d slipped down a ravine while trying to cross it. Her foot had become caught under a rock, and it had taken both her and Callum to get it out. The first thing she’d noticed was the pain. She’d been injured before of course, and there had been the issue with the binding around her wrist, but this was worse. This  _ hurt _ . It radiated through her foot and up to her knee. Callum had walked her back to the palace, carrying most of her weight, and they had instantly been taken to a healer. Callum had sat with her as she’d been diagnosed, and was still sitting with her, holding her hand. Rayla was okay with that. The pain was terrible, and maybe, just maybe, she needed the comfort. 

“Yes,” the healer said. He began working on said cast. “Your foot is broken, Rayla. If you move it you could hurt it even more.”

“But I don’t  _ want  _ a cast,” she complained. She didn’t want her movement restricted by a stupid injury. 

“Rayla, come on,” Callum said. “This is for the best.”

Rayla shot him a glare, but then her expression softened. He was right. This was for the best. 

“How long will I not be able to walk on it?” she asked.

"A month,” the healer told her as he began fitting the cast to her foot. Rayla winced at the pain that caused, nearly moved her foot out of the way, but thought better of it. This man was just helping her. 

“A  _ month?! _ ” she asked incredulously.

The healer just nodded. “It takes a while for broken bones to heal.”

But what about her training? Her fighting? Rayla would be completely defenseless.

“What am I supposed to do for a whole month?” she asked hopelessly.

“I’ll give you crutches so you can get around,” the healer told her. “It takes practice, but I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.”

“I’ll keep you occupied,” Callum said. “I’ve been on crutches before. Broke my ankle when I was ten. Mostly just stayed in bed.”

“That sounds so  _ boring _ ,” Rayla complained. 

Callum poked himself in the chest. “Not with me, it won’t be! I promise.”

Rayla made an attempt to smile at him. Her boyfriend really was sweet. “Okay.”

  
  


“Art lessons?” Rayla questioned. “Really?”

“I thought it might be fun,” Callum said. He’d brought his big sketchbook with him, and he’d acquired one for Rayla. There were different types of charcoal spread out on the bed. Rayla was sitting up, propped up by pillows. She hadn’t really moved from bed. She didn’t know where to go right now with her foot like this, and servants had brought her food for her. “I’ve never really taught anyone before but I can’t be too bad.”

Rayla laughed. She couldn’t imagine Callum teaching anyone anything. 

“Okay, let’s give it a go.” She opened her sketchbook. She didn’t quite know what to draw. Maybe Callum? That seemed like a challenge for a starting artist though. She’d never done this before. All of her free time went into fighting practice, because she had to be good. She had to be perfect.

“How do  _ you  _ draw?” Rayla asked him.

“Well, I start with an outline,” Callum said. He picked up a piece of black charcoal, began drawing, and Rayla recognized the shape of a face. “I can draw from my head, but looking at something to draw is good for starting out. Pick something in the room to draw.”

There was a bowl of fruit on the table across from the bed, but drawing that seemed silly. She wanted to draw Callum. So, she picked up a piece of charcoal and began. 

Annnd his head was lopsided. Rayla tried not to pay too much attention to that, but her perfectionism was getting to her. She tried drawing his eyes, but with the head all wrong, it didn’t look right. With a growl of frustration, she flipped to the next page to start over.

“It’s okay,” Callum told her. He reached over and laid a hand on her wrist. “You’re not going to be perfect.”

“But I want to be perfect.”

Callum shook his head. “Not even  _ I’m  _ perfect, and I’ve been at this for years. It’s alright.”

So Callum wasn’t perfect. But his drawings were beautiful! Oh well, maybe Rayla could throw aside perfection, just for the afternoon. 

She started again.

They talked as they drew, Callum giving her pointers here and there. He seemed not to notice that she was drawing him. She wished she could capture his expression while he worked, that look of focus, that almost-pouted lip. Rayla took a look at his drawing, recognized the face, the hair, the horns. He was drawing her!

Rayla wasn’t all that good when it came to shading. Now that she was focusing on it, it was hard to understand how light and shadow worked together, to really look at something and see those differences. 

But, Callum didn’t mind. He didn’t tell her her drawing was bad. He didn’t tell her to start over. He didn’t care about her perfection like those in her life before him had.

“Done!” Rayla declared after about an hour. She held up her drawing to show Callum.

He looked at it, tilted his head. “Is that me?”

Rayla blushed, lowered the sketchbook back into her lap. “Yeah.”

“Pretty good for your first try!” Callum said. He blushed too. “I assume you know who I’m drawing.”

“It’s like looking in a mirror,” Rayla told him, and she was being honest. Callum was very good at his hobby.

Callum laughed a little, and it was a delightful sound. “Now let’s clean up and get you some food.”

Rayla’s stomach rumbled. She couldn’t complain about that.

  
  


Callum made it his duty to keep Rayla as occupied as possible. She wasn’t allowed to be bored while on bed rest. Of course, she did grow bored on occasion, but who wouldn’t when in bed for a month? 

He showed her his favorite board game, his favorite card game. She got very good at the cards, and rather enjoyed them. Callum would make silly faces at her, jump around the room making wild noises, all to make her laugh. And it worked. It distracted from the pain of her foot. Of course, the healers were giving her a potion for that, and sometimes it messed with her mind. One time, Callum and Rayla had been laying in bed together, enjoying the sun spilling through the windows, and Rayla asked him: 

“What do you think the color blue tastes like?” It had been an hour since taking her potion, and strange questions like that were popping into her mind.

Callum rolled over to face her. “The color blue?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know. Maybe like cake?”

Rayla laughed. “Ezran would like that.”

Callum laughed too. “I suppose he would.”

Though, the more Rayla took the potion, the less it affected her thoughts. She realized in embarrassment the things she had said, and tried apologizing, but Callum said it was no big deal, that it had been amusing to him. Rayla was glad he had just gone along with her silly ramblings. 

One afternoon, sitting up in bed and playing a board game, Rayla put her face in her hand and sighed.

“What is it?” Callum asked, putting down his piece.

“I’m not used to this,” Rayla complained. “I should be training or something. But instead I’m useless.”

“You’re not useless,” Callum countered.

“No?” She looked at him. “I can’t fight right now. I can’t protect people if something bad happens. I can’t protect  _ you _ .”

Callum took Rayla’s hand. “Look, it’s okay. Your worth is more than just in your fighting skills.”

“Is it?” Rayla was having a hard time believing him.

“Yes.”

Rayla wondered if Callum was telling the truth. But, then again, he hadn’t left her over this. The instant she couldn’t fight, Rayla had expected to be abandoned by him, but instead he had been constantly by her side, doing his best to keep her occupied. And it had been working. Her cast came off in a week, and she didn’t feel so bad because Callum was around. He genuinely cared for her, whether she could fight or not. 

Rayla squeezed his hand, gave a smile. “Thank you. I guess you’re right.”

Callum smirked at her playfully. “You know I am.” He looked down at the board, didn’t release her hand, and Rayla was grateful for that. “Now, where were we?”


End file.
